PNU prexy wins another term

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Normal University president Ester Ogena was reelected for a second term last Nov. 13.

Upon assuming office in 2011, Ogena initiated a wide range of administrative, curricular and fiscal reforms in PNU to improve the quality of education offered by the university after years of lackluster performance.

Parallel with the reform initiatives of the Commission on Higher Education and the Aquino Administration, Ogena made the university’s fiscal policy more transparent by involving campus executive directors, deans, directors and heads in budget planning and meetings. Reports about the university’s financial situation are discussed in the administrative council and are also provided in the annual President’s Report.

To improve the quality of education and research capabilities of PNU, Ogena pushed forward her program INSPIRE (Initiatives for Scholarship and Promotion of Innovations in Research and Education), wherein faculty members are given financial incentives to conduct and publish researches, take up and complete graduate and postgraduate studies, and acquire their own books and ICT gadgets, do paper presentations in international conferences, and participate in Asian benchmarking visits to universities, among others.

PNU’s research journal, The Normal Lights, which heralds the university’s innovation in teacher education is now recognized by the Commission on Higher Education and is well received by local, as well as international, teacher education institutions (TEIs). Ogena also initiated the publication of the Asia Pacific Higher Education Journal for the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges in the National Capital Region.

Apart from this program, her administration also improved the university’s admission tests and selection systems, ensuring that only the cream-of-the-crop are enrolled in the school.